Pilates, Politics and Prostitutes

Pilates: So, I love my Pilates teacher. The other teachers for step and dance are okay, but he's the bomb. Maybe it's the random English Pilates vocab that he throws in that I don't get, the jokes he makes, or the loud whistling sound he makes when he's demonstrating moves, but he rocks.

Politics: It's debate time in Spain for the coming elections in March 2008. Last night I watched a "town hall" discussion with questions from 100 people from all over Spain. Same stuff as in the US BUT a) there are more political parties, b) the questions were not seen by the politicians beforehand and c) the politicians come out one-at-a-time to answer these questions. The PP (right-wing) and PSOE (left-wing, in power now) were not there, just the 2 Catalán parties (the right and left wing from Cataluña) and the Communist Party (Izquierda Unida). See, the PP and PSOE always tie every election pretty much, so in order to win power in the government, they have to win over these smaller parties and the one to "win over" the most wins government power. The problem with this, however, is that the smaller parties (some regionally-based, like the Catalán parties from Cataluña or the parties from Andalucía or Galicia or wherever) want political favors in turn, such as promises of supporting independence. Spain is a country with many regions that want independence (think Quebec in Canada) with their own language, food, customs, etc. This is a BIG DEAL right now in Spain because it seems like things are coming to a head... This past Friday, Hispanic Day, brought about a lot of discussion around this issue because, for one, only half the country really celebrated it (since some, mainly the Cataluñans and the Basques) consider themselves not to be Spanish, or as they are called here "anticonstitucionalistas" (anti-constitution). We'll see what happens. The funny thing about the questions not having been approved beforehand was that a couple of people asked some pretty silly ones - a girl from Barcelona, for example, was concerned that if Cataluña separated, then who would Barça (the soccer team from Barcelona) play against in the European League. The politician looked at her like she had 3 heads but answered her anyway.

Prostitutes: I went to the Médicos del Mundo meeting on Monday for THREE HOURS to discuss the expansion of the complementary therapies in their organization. Mario, a massage therapist who started this last year, will have me working with him on 2 projects: 1) individuals recommended by psychologists that work with people in the different programs (i.e. immigrants, people coming out of prostitution, HIV/AIDS patients, what-have-you) and 2) doing relaxation classes for women trying to get out of prostitution who are coming to workshops at the center once a week for 6 weeks. I will be starting November 6 when the first workshops start.

Other things: Went to a HUGE flea market on Sunday with Karen. She was holding on to the hood on my jacket so we could make it through the crowd without separating. I have never seen so many vendors and so many people. Got lots of little trinkets for pressies for people. I have all A's in my classes so far (rocked my midterms, thank you). Last midterm was this week and next week the second round starts. Go figure.
Isabel and I have been rocky on-and-off. Things got better when I made her burritos last night again and we drank wine and watched the political debates. Living with someone with as many neuroses as yourself makes you take a serious look at how silly neuroses can be. Hopefully this will help me become less of a perfectionist and be more forgiving of myself and help me learn how to communicate better with others.
Fall is here, leaves are turning, I'm joining the Spanish trend of wearing loads of scarves and shawls.

Hope all are well. Love and hugs to everyone over across the pond... well, whichever pond you're across from me on... (Atlantic, Mediterranean, English Channel, etc., etc.)